Jeff Zucker Talks to David Remnick About Putting Trump on TV

While running NBC, Jeff Zucker recognized Donald Trump’s potential as a performer, and green-lighted “The Apprentice.” That show brought the real-estate developer into American homes and enabled his push into politics. When Zucker took over an ailing CNN, Trump returned the favor, so to speak: his campaign and then Presidency brought the network its highest prime-time ratings in decades. But, as David Remnick notes in a conversation with Zucker, Trump seems to have it in for CNN, placing it atop his axis of “fake news” enemies.

Dorothy Wickenden has been the executive editor of The New Yorker since 1996.